


This Dream's On Me

by Tsume_Yuki



Series: This Dream's On Me [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: At least FIli and Kili believe so, Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship, Dis is the scariest dwarf to ever live, F/M, Female Harry Potter, Fili's very protective of his friends, Gloin makes a fabulous Agony Aunt, Meeting in dreams, There's not many he can find, They'll eventually meet in real life, Thorin will take his victories wherever he can find them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-02 15:55:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2817887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsume_Yuki/pseuds/Tsume_Yuki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fili has heard the whispers, between his uncle and his men. There's going to be a quest, a quest to reclaim Erebor and he wants in. The warrior witch he meets in his dreams doesn't seem to think it's a good idea for him to go though. At least, not alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

 

Fili, son of Dis and would-be crown prince of Erebor, was a tad confused. He'd had dreams before, sure, but never one like this. Slowly sitting up, the blond dwarf proceeded to look around the forest clearing he'd found himself in after falling asleep, dressed in nothing but his usual sleeping clothes. He'd never seen a forest quite like it, the trees were different than the ones that surrounded the blue mountains. Those had just been trees, but these seemed somewhat ominous, stranger than what he'd ever seen. #

There was just an air about this forest, and Fili wished desperately that his trusted dual swords were by his side, and maybe some clothes, for the air was nipping somewhat vicious between the layers of his thin sleeping clothes. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind, he was dressed fully, as if he had been heading out for a hunting trip, with the familiar weight of all his weapons strapped in their usual places.

Pulling one sword free of his shoulder, Fili levelled it into a rest position, ready for anything that could come at him. Whilst a part of him registered that this was a dream and nothing could truly hurt him, it didn't stop him from arming himself. Uncle Thorin had taught him that much. It didn't seem right, to be slowly making his way through the undergrowth without Kili by his side, ready with his bow for any threats at long distance. He felt almost vulnerable, having never been out on his own before. Not like this.

“What are you doing here?”

Fili leapt a foot in the air, spinning on his heels as his sword twisted to point at the source of the question.

A girl stared back at him, sat down against the base of a tree trunk, legs tucked up to her chest and green eyes focused upon his form. Fili stalled for a second, taking in the sight before him. She was dressed unlike anyone he'd ever seen before, in a long dark cloak that didn't look anywhere near as warm as his furs, with even stranger clothing beneath.

Was this female wearing trousers? And what was resting on the bridge of her nose? Some metal framework holding two round lenses of glass. What purpose did they serve?

How had his brain even managed to think up such a creature? She was certainly no dwarf, that was evident from the lack of a beard, but she didn't appear to be any taller than him. Perhaps somewhat the same height. An inch or two shorter? It was hard to tell with her sat down like she was.

“I am dreaming, my lady.”

The girl blinked up at him from behind the large round glasses that perched upon her nose. They were rather pretty to look at, Fili supposed, having never seen eyes so green before in his life.

“I'm dreaming as well. As if it's not bad enough I've got Voldemort running riot in my head it looks like I've got another guest.” She stood then, pushing up with her hands on her knees, moving slowly until she was stood before him. He'd been right in his guess, the girl was two inches shorter than what he was, but so evidentially not a dwarf he didn't know how.

“Fili, son of Dis, at your service my lady.”

The girl blinked again, head cocking slightly to a side as she stared back at him. So his greeting was not common amongst her race then? She looked like a child of man, but a little too short for that... Not that he'd seen many men, and there was no way she was an elf. No matter how leafy green her eyes.

“Erm, Harry Potter. Nice to meet you Fili.”

So she had a title like Uncle Thorin did then? But what would have gotten her the title Potter? Unless it was family thing, like with the men...

“Am I truly dreaming you up?” It seemed rather spectacular a dream if so, he'd never had one with such detail, such colour before. He could not have made up the young woman before him, surely? There was too much about her that he did not recognise.

“I don't think so. There's a lot of magic about dreams, but I didn't pay too much attention to it in class. I know I'm real, so if you think you are, then maybe you are. What are you?” The girl, Harry, suddenly reddened, looking away from his for the first time. “I mean, if you don't mind me asking. You don't look, well, like a wizard.”

Ah, here was something he understood, at last.

“You are correct Lady Potter, a wizard I am not. I'm a dwarf. Never met a wizard before.”

“A dwarf? I didn't know those existed... And how have you not met a wizard before, there's loads of us?”

Not as far as Fili was aware. There were five roaming about Middle Earth, and he'd not met one of them. And wait a second, us?

 .

They walked through the trees, talking as they went. Fili learnt that they were in a place called 'The Forbidden Forest', a location that rested outside of the Lady Harry's school. Apparently, he wasn't even dreaming of Middle Earth, instead he was in what Harry insisted to be 'Regular Earth', in which there were no dwarves at all. There were goblins, but they ran the bank -and how strange a thought was that- and were apparently quite civilized beings.

And the magic, there were wizard and witches in abundance here, learning at this 'Hogwarts' that was nearby. And the Lady Harry was one of them, learning the noble art of magic.

It was very interesting, and Harry seemed to open up slightly as they spoke. She liked her Defence lessons, which was apparently all about applying magic in combat. She disliked potions, but that was more due to the teacher than anything else. It was only facts, not too much personal information on the dark haired woman that walked beside him, but he felt obliged to open up a bit to her also.

He told her that he was a warrior of his race, that he'd been trained to fight with swords from childhood. Harry had admitted she'd only used a sword once, an enchanted one that could answer her call when she needed it and was now coated in the most deadly poison in her world. She admitted to having no siblings, and after a bit of prodding, that she was an orphan.

Fili had spoke of his father's death, which had come about not long after Kili's birth. He spoke of watching his Uncle stepping up to become the main father figure in their lives. He could tell that Harry knew he adored Uncle Thorin, if the wishful smile on her face was any indication. He spoke of Kili and his love for archery, how skilled he was with a bow.

Harry showed him some magic, simple things like making a twig turn into a needle, blowing up a tree with a blasting curse. That second one was very impressive, Kili would have like it, both the idea and watching the magic. They spoke for hours over simple, little things. Favourite foods, what they enjoyed doing, the differences in their world. They never grew too personal.

But Fili liked it. Having someone to talk to about nonsense things who clearly wouldn't judge him. Who didn't know he was a prince.

“Lady Harry, I think I'm waking up,” he finally murmured, frowning as he did so. Harry looked back at him -and what a strange name she had- with her lips turning down at the corners ever so slightly.

“That's disappointing. You're the nicest guest I've had in my head so far. I think... I wouldn't mind if you found your way back.” He didn't get a chance to answer her.

.

Instead, he woke up to Kili's grinning face, eyebrows wiggling and asking 'who's this Lady Harry?'. He'd snorted, muttering he couldn't remember the dream. But he could. And he rather hoped he'd manage to go back. Even if she wasn't real, that didn't mean that dream hadn't been pleasant enough.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Fili find's himself back in this strange dreamland and his understanding of his Uncle grows just the tiniest bit.

By some miracle, Fili found his way back to Harry's dreams every night for the next week. And the week after that. And the week after that. It'd been a month now since he'd started stumbling into the girl's dreams. A month of them talking, chatting between one another as Harry led him on a tour of Hogwarts grounds.

The castle, if made somewhat larger by the distinct lack of other students, was magnificent. The stair cases moved, hell, the ceiling in the main hall was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

Not that he'd be telling Uncle Thorin that.

No doubt the dwarf would insist upon drawing up the grand halls of Erebor and then get furious when it didn't come out right because his Uncle couldn't draw for rocks, never-mind use the -nonexistent- ability to persuade someone else of his point.

When they were younger, Kili and he had made a game of who could irritate their uncle the most without the man catching on that they were doing it on purpose, and while it had all been good fun at the time, now that he looked back on it, Fili was not proud of the whole thing. His stressed out uncle could have used the time to be more productive, certainly. But he'd spent time with his nephews, no matter how much they drove him mad.

Fili appreciated that, looked up to his uncle even more as a result.

"Want to see where I used my first sword?"

Brought back into the present by the soft voice of his companion, Fili gave a small nod, intrigued. Few female dwarves bothered to learn how to wield weapons, seeing as the vast majority would find themselves married. After all, there were far fewer females than males in their race, so it's not like they were unable to find partners.

His mother was one of the handfuls of dwarven females that hadn't casually passed over the weapon. Though he'd never personally seen his mother in a serious fight, Dwalin swore blue that the Lady Dis was a terrifying sight to behold with battle axe in hand. Knowing what he did of his mother, Fili was inclined to believe it.

Harry was looking back at him now, and it took Fili a moment to realize he'd paused in thought, one hand tracing the leather strap of his sword's sheath.

"Are you coming or not, Master Fili?"

Grinning, Fili resumed his previous pace, striding forwards to catch up with the young woman who smiling at him over her shoulder.

He still stood by his belief from the first night they had ever met; she was a stunning creature. Her face unlike anything he'd ever seen. Not that such a thing was difficult, considering Fili had never really left the safety of the Blue Mountains before. She was all delicate lines and big green eyes and pouty little lips.

Exotic. That was the word he was looking for. Her nose was a thin feature, so very different from the, in comparison, large noses that belonged to his own race. She was slim, a thin figure, with frail looking wrists. Though her hands were small, her fingers thin, they were not unscarred by hard work; Harry clearly faced everything thrown her way head on with a fierce determination that would make a dwarf proud.

 "Did I tell you I speak snake?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow before the strangest of sounds escaped her lips. As she'd suggested, it sounded just like the hissed whispers of a snake, and Fili felt as if he'd been struck by lightning. Harry was looking back at him, white teeth digging into the soft flesh of her lower lip as she worried the skin back and forth. Fili averted his eyes, instead focusing upon rather large hole that seemed to have grown out of the floor following whatever command Harry had just issued.

"So, down here? Is it safe?"

He seemed to have done something right, because Harry smiled at him, taking a hold of his hand and before Fili could protest, he was plunging through the dark, the faintest of feminine giggles echoing around in his skull.

.

"You killed this beast?" Fili stared in amazement at the sight before him.

It was a large snake- no, large did not do the snake justice. It could stretch from one end of the great hall of the Blue Mountain to the other, and perhaps a little longer. It was a magnificent thing, teeth as long as his arm, both forearm and upper. He'd heard the other dwarves whisper of Smaug's large size, of the beasts great length. Fili could not imagine it before, but now that he'd seen the size of this snake -which was most certainly smaller than Smaug but no less impressive because of it- he could picture the dragon a little better now.

Beside him, Harry stood looking at the snake with a light frown crossing her lips, something unreadable swimming about in her brilliant green eyes.

Slowly, she sat herself down on the damp stone flooring, leaning back until her head laid to rest against the great beast that she had slayed. Fili hesitated for a second, but when Harry tapped the at the empty space beside her, Fili slowly seated himself beside her, one hand tracing the thick scales of the snake. Either Harry was exceptionally skilled, or exceptionally lucky to have bested such a creature. Or, perhaps both.

The two of the them sat in silence or a few precious minutes, in which Fili just took in the enormous chamber around him and listened to the soft breaths that was Harry inhaling and exhaling. He did not dare to break the silence that'd surrounded them, instead just remaining in his place till either the young woman beside him spoke up, or he himself woke up and left this magnificent dream land behind.

"I face the man who killed my parents here." Harry's voice almost startled him.

Turning to look at the girl, Fili waited, wondering if she'd continue. They'd never really talked about their pasts before. Here, he was just Fili, Son of Dis, the dwarf to Harry's witch. She was just Harry Potter to him, the prettiest creature he'd met so far in his life. Neither of them had pushed the other to talk about their pasts, neither wanting to overstep the tentative friendship that they'd struck up. But it seemed that Harry was willing to trust him, perhaps to an extent. And that left Fili nervous. Would she expect him to start talking about himself? About the tales of his people? Could he really tell her? No, he couldn't.

At least, not right now.

"He tried to kill me too," Harry continued after a pause, drawing her knees up to her chest and digging her fingers into the soft material, palms curling around her knees, "obviously he failed. But he's not given up. He's always chasing me, and I just wanted to be a normal girl. I didn't want any of this pressure or other people's expectations. I wanted to be just Harry, not this special girl they keep telling me I am."

Uncertainty gripped him for a second, before Fili gently laid his arm across her shoulders, pulling Harry close to his side the same way he'd seen his Uncle comfort his Mother whenever she thought upon Fili's father. Sadness crawled about in his stomach for a few moments, but the thoughts on his brave father who'd died in battle fled his head as Harry pressed her cheek into his chest, eyes closed. No doubt she could hear the steady beat of his heart, somewhat muffled by the thick fur of his coat.

"My Uncle has a pretty high position amongst our people," Fili murmured, running his free hand through the parts of his hair that were unbound, frowning as he did so. "People expect me to inherit it from him. But looking after all those people, making sure everything's running smoothly... Uncle will be a difficult dwarf to follow after. He's just- I can't even describe it. How am I suppose to live up to that?"

There wasn't any comforting words, for neither of them could voice such a thing for the other, filled with insecurities as they were. Fili understood that. Just sitting and sharing the thoughts was enough for him right now.

The fact that Harry didn't move from the almost embrace showed she probably felt the same way.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Uncle Thorin comes to the wrong conclusions, Fili is embarrassed and Harry is entertained.

"Fili, should I be needing to talk to another dwarf about his daughter?"

Pausing, Fili looked up from where he was sat up to table, sharpening one of his many throwing knives.

 His mother was out at the moment, so both he and his uncle Thorin had monopolized the kitchen table for the moment, determined to sharpen as many of their weapons as they could within the house before Dis returned. For some reason or another, she insisted that weapons were to be left at the door, even though her own battle axe was proudly leaning against the living room wall right this second.

"What?" Fili cocked his head to a side in confusion, looking up at his uncle. Thorin had stopped running the whetstone against Deathless, and seemed almost, uncomfortable.

"Kili keeps asking me if I know a dwarf by the name of 'Harry'. He seems insistent that you're sneaking off to see this female Darrow. And that you've been having... a few dreams that see you mumbling the name in your sleep."

Fili's face flamed. Blood rushed across his cheeks as his uncles' words registered.

"NO! No. It's just a dream."

Oh how he hoped that wasn't true. Harry understood him, somewhat. She had people expecting things of her too, she felt the same crushing pressure that he did. A kindred soul. She wasn't some kind of, of fantasy. Even if she was the prettiest thing he'd ever seen in his life-

Shaking his head free of those thoughts -because that only led to danger, and he'd only known Harry for two months and they'd never meet in person ever- Fili stood, ready to depart from the table and this awkward conversation. But he didn't get to leave before noticing that Thorin had gone the same shade of mortified red as what he had.

Good. It served him right. Asking such questions. He had no idea how he was going to face Harry tonight.

 

* * *

 

 

"He really said that?" Harry cackled across from him, green eyes lighting up in genuine amusement at his embarrassment. She was an evil little thing. Having noticed his unease the second he'd returned to Hogwarts' great hall, she had instantly pulled out every form of manipulation in the book in an attempt to find out what had happened. Hell, he'd didn't even know half of them were interrogation methods until he'd already said far more than what he'd wanted to.

Balin would be proud of her, but no doubt want to kill him for squealing like a pig.

He hadn't been able to stand against those emerald green eyes blinking up at him, pleading for him to tell his tale of mortification. He'd caved, like the mountain rock before dwarven miners.

"So, how's life for you?"

Harry frowned slightly, not quite curling in on herself like every other time that he'd asked this question, but she didn't seem as against speaking as usual. Finally, she gave a low sigh, dropping back onto the plush rug they were sat on, face lit up the by crackling flames of the fire before them. Currently, the two of them were curled up in what Harry called the 'Gryffindor Common Room', sat before the fire.

 While it was summer in both of their worlds, that didn't reflect perfectly on the dream world that they met in. Harry had explained that she was usually at Hogwarts for the winter months, and thus, their dream world reflected that the vast majority of the time. With conscious thought she could probably change it, but Fili had to admit there was something charming about sitting before the fire in this room of red and gold, wearing nothing other than his casual clothes. He'd stripped himself of everything else, all but his fur coat stretched across the back of one of the chairs.

Harry apparently found the difference in their attire fascinating, and had snatched up the wolf fur that Thorin had gotten him for his birthday two years past, wrapping it around her shoulders.

Something squirmed in his stomach at the sight of her sat there, with the fire dancing across her face and his wolf skin wrapped around her shoulders. He couldn't quite identify the feeling though, so pushed it back, determined to just enjoy this time with his new friend and not have to worry about anything else.

"My aunt and uncle aren't that bad this summer. We don't get along; you know how you told me that people don't like the whole 'witch thing' back in your world? My aunt and uncle are kind of like that because I'm not normal. I don't have anywhere else I can go until I come of age later this month."

"Wait, you're coming of age this month?"

Was he suppose to get her a gift? Wait, if he got her a gift, how was he suppose to bring it to her? Was it possible? He didn't think so.

So a gift was a no go then.

Fili frowned, folding his arms across his chest with a scowl on his face. It didn't seem right, to know that Harry was coming of age soon and he wouldn't be able to get her anything.

Everyone that Fili called friend had received a gift from him upon their coming of age. Thorin had been the one to braid Fili's hair, in place of the father they'd lost to battle. It'd been Thorin and Kili who joined him on his coming of age hunt, the two closest male relations he had. It'd been his mother that'd planted a blessed kiss on his forehead, even if he'd had to kneel slightly so that her lips would actually reach the skin of his brow. That was a dwarves coming of age in a nutshell.

What was it like, he wondered, for wizard and witches who come of age? Surely he was good enough friends with Harry now to ask such a question? It's not like he'd be able to spread the tales of her people to others, no one would believe him. There were only five wizards in his world, and they were all exceedingly old. Nothing like Harry.

"Wh-what happens at your coming of age?" Cursing himself for his nervous stammer, Fili watched as Harry sat up slightly, head tilted to a side as she considered his question.

"Well, most importantly our magic matures. The core settles. Or, that's what Hermione said. So I'll be able to use magic outside of school now, seeing as there's no chance of making a huge mistake that could hurt my core. Next I'll get access to the family vault. My families total wealth, estates and history is all in there, and I'll be able to control it now. Some people throw a party, while some people just have a quite birthday and have their presents sent to them." That was reasonably interesting.

Tired of sitting, Fili rolled till he was laid on his stomach, stretched out across the majority of the rug. Harry was watching him with those curious, big green eyes, but she said nothing at his change in position. They was perhaps a foot of space between the two of them now, her legs stretched out alongside his torso.

"And what kind of gifts do you get? Uncle made me a pair of hunting knives but you said your people no longer carry blades."

Harry nodded, rotating her shoulder blades and she did so. The dark haired girl seemed to be fighting an internal battle before she came to a conclusion, repeating his moves from moments ago until she was lying beside him, not on her stomach but upon her side, one arm supporting her head.

"It depends. My Aunt and Uncle don't really get me anything, but I get a few from my friends. Hermione will probably get me a book or something else that'll be really useful. Ron can send sweets or something that'll have caught his eye, Neville, well, that'll probably be a plant. I got some Quidditch gloves- err, sports gloves from Ginny and Luna's sent me homemade jewellery. It's the thought that counts really." It made sense.

All the things that Harry had ever gotten as a gift, or would get, would probably be useful to her at some point. That was the idea of dwarven gifts after all.

Unless you were courting. That meant copious amounts of jewellery for the female, just to show they had the money to provide for both her and whatever offsprings may come out of such a relationship.

The thought thing though. Maybe he couldn't get her something physical that she could carry back to the waking world, but perhaps he could manage something else? He was Uncle Thorin's heir, and his Uncle would never have any problem thinking up a gift for someone with such restrictions. Certainly Fili could manage to think something up?

"When is it your birthday?"

"July 31st. Born as the seventh month dies," Harry whispered the last few words, a bitterness sweeping into her voice and Fili knew that topic of conversation was over for now. Still, he made sure to log that information, both her birth date and the fact her people's calendar seemed to run on the same length as the men's back home.

"Not that it matters really, I won't be with my Aunt and Uncle after tomorrow. I'm getting moved to safe-house tomorrow."

"Safe-house? Why are you in a safe-house?" Dwarves had never needed to use a safe house before. Sure, according this Uncle there'd been a panic room in Erebor for the royal family, but that really wasn't any use against a dragon. It was more for the women and children to hide in if the palace was invaded. Not that anyone other than Smaug had ever gotten past the front gate before.

"Remember when I showed you the Basilisk? And I said I faced the man who killed my parents? In our world, there's a curse that killing people. Nothing can stop it, if it hits you, you're dead. Only, it didn't happen with me. I'm the only person to have ever survived it. And Voldemort took that as a personal offence."

A growl echoed through the room, and it took Fili a second to realize it's source had in fact been him.

"I don't like it, not being able to help you," he finally admitted, watching as Harry gave a small smile, clearly unsure of what to say to his confession. Perhaps she'd never been in this position before, where someone was willing to, wanted to, help but was physically unable to.

"There's a prophecy!" Harry blurted out, eyes round and startled that she'd even said it. Fili sat up. He knew a little about prophecies. There was one about Erebor back home, one his Uncle thought he'd kept from both Kili and he, but really, the two of them had known for the last twenty years. It was hard to keep all the dwarves quiet after all.

"Neither of us can live while the other survives," Harry murmured, face crumpling inwards with sadness. Staring up at the ceiling, he didn't think too much, just pulled her against his side in a tight, one armed hug.

"I'm not sure if it'll help, but do you want to go through some moves with a sword for a bit?"

Harry said she'd used a sword once before, right? And having the knowledge to use it would only help, right? With a quiet sniffle that Fili politely ignored, Harry nodded.

"I'd like that."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a lack of fabric catches Fili's attention, dwarves don't dance slow and jewellery disappears.

The next deviation in the dreams -aside from the fact they'd spend at least an hour, or what seemed an hour, of time practicing with a sword- sees Fili almost stumbling over his own feet in shock.

Harry was once again waiting for him to turn up, and it is the night of her birthday. She'd have already lived out the day in the real world, but as far as the two of them were concerned, tonight still counted as her coming of age. And while it was true that all dwarves did put on their best wear for their coming of age, Fili had never seen any Darrowoman wearing something like that.

It was a dark green thing, that was rather form fitting along the torso, before falling in a handful of layers to the floor, pooling around her hidden feet. And while the torso part was fitted, that wasn't what had caught Fili's attention. No, it was the fact the back was all but missing.

Harry's pale upper-back was on full display, shown of even more so by the fact her hair was pulled up into a messy bun to rest atop her head. The green fabric of the dress came back together just as her shoulder-blades ended.

Fili couldn't pull his eyes away.

There was a scar of a reasonable size across one shoulder, but he didn't pay much attention to that other than to wonder what the source had been.

Something felt lodged in his throat, stopping him from announcing his presence. It only lasted for a moment, but it was still there, and Fili could only watch as Harry tilted her neck back to stare up at the enchanted ceiling that was part of the Great Hall.

Finally, the frog that's appeared in his windpipe seemed to leave and Fili coughed, gathering Harry's attention. She spun around, the strange glasses that aided her sight glinted slightly in the light, but he could still see the smile that stretched across her lips just fine.

"I didn't realize I'd have to dress up." True he could just think about his own coming of age clothes and they'd appear, but he'd always met up with Harry in his casual clothes, layered up with his hunting armour and fur coat. It would feel, different. Like this was more real. And he didn't want that. Didn't want to get sucked into this entire thing and spend his waking hours pining for it.

Harry smiled, closing the distance between them with a steady walk before she paused, a foot or two of space between them.

"I was thinking about the dress I'm wearing to the wedding, Fleur and Bill's wedding, before I went to sleep. I wasn't planning on showing up in it, but I don't really want to take it off now that I'm in it. There's little to celebrate at the moment."

"Other than your coming of age."

Harry's face once again broke out into a smile, and she nodded in agreement, smoothing down the material of the dress that'd crinkled slightly around her hips. She looked stunning, and Fili found himself fumbling in his pockets.

Finally, his fingers came into contact with what he was searching for and he pulled the item in question from the depths of his coat. It was a very thin chain, holding a very small emerald on one end. It wasn't the greatest of gifts, seeing as the only silver he'd been able to get his hands on was nowhere near as pure as he'd have wanted, and the emerald, while a nice cut, was a little on the small side. But he'd made it, gotten it finished in time for Harry's birthday, so that was good enough for him.

 Even if she wouldn't be able to take it with her.

"Congratulations on your coming of age, Lady Harry Potter."

Giving a slight bow, Fili extended his hands forwards, offering up the necklace as he did so. He watched as Harry's green eyes flew to the metal work, rounded and her lips parted to allow a stunned breath past.

"It's beautiful! Where did you get it?"

He'd never been embarrassed by his work before. While Uncle Thorin was the blacksmith of the family, Fili had gone on a slightly more delicate route. His craft was that of a jewellers. He'd always been proud of his work, whether it was the first sloppy broach he'd made his grandmother, or the latest bracelet he presented his mother with.

So why did his cheeks burn with the force of a thousand suns as Harry stood, admiring the fragile work?

"I made it."

Harry gasped again, her wide emerald eyes shooting to look at him once again. They really were emeralds, the same shade as the gem he'd just given her. Harry took another look at the necklace before spinning around on her heels, holding the two ends of the chain up to the back of her neck.

"Put it on for me?"

Breath still refusing to leave his lungs, Fili did as requested, locking the small clasp into place and taking a step back as Harry spun back around, long, thin fingers reaching up to stroke at the small gem that now rested between her collar bones.

"Thank you, it's beautiful."

 

As the night- the dream, he couldn't afford to forget this couldn't possibly be real- went on, Fili took the time to show Harry a traditional dwarven dance that was performed at a coming of age, laughing as she almost stumbled over the quick steps in the ridiculous shoes she was wearing. They saw her standing on her tip toes, the heels of her feet held up by a thin rod attached to the sole of the shoe. Harry called them 'high heels' but Fili just thought they were silly. Even if they did bring them to eye level with each other.

"Do you have slow dancing where you're from?" Harry was looking at him again, a little smile on her pale lips, eyebrows wiggling beneath the thick black fringe that framed her face.

"This is the slowest dancing the dwarves can manage."

Giggling, Harry stopped moving, holding out her hand before her. Slightly confused, Fili placed his own in her grasp, eyes widening when she took his limb and placed his fingers upon her hip. Even through the beautiful green material of her dress, he could feel the heat her body was generating. What in Mahal's names was this?

He must have voiced the question aloud, because Harry gave him a funny look, eyebrows knitted together over her small nose. It was the thinnest, smallest nose Fili had ever seen, but considering he'd only ever seen dwarves and a handful of men before, that was understandable.

"If I remember correctly, it's about four hundred years old, but don't quote me on it. It's what's considered traditional dancing in my world." She was standing close enough that he could smell the honey on her breath, the warm scent of her skin. He'd never been this close to another female before, not in such close contact. Harry's smooth jaw line, free of any facial hair at all no longer looked odd to him, as it had when they'd first met. It was just her jaw. Her cheeks were flushed and the girl was looking away, having taken his other hand and extended it out before the both of them.

"My full name is Hariel Lily Potter-Black by the way. I just go by Harry Potter because it's easier on the tongue."

Stunned, Fili turned his attention back to the impish creature that was currently leading him through the steps of her peoples dancing.

"I have a secret name in the dwarven language that we don't tell anyone other than family."

"What's your language called?" Harry spun them around and Fili finally felt like he understood the, admittedly, rather simple steps enough to take the lead. His boots made a rather loud, low thump compared to the sharp click of Harry's silly shoes, the sound echoing around the music-less room.

"Khuzdul is the spoken language. It's not taught to any dwarven outsiders."

"Parseltonuge is the snake language."

"Say something?"

Harry gave a small smirk, hair having fallen loose from her bun at some point during their dwarven dance, but she never the less complied.

The hisses saw Fili jerk slightly, the noises sounding so unlike anything he'd ever heard from a human mouth before. Snake language indeed.

"What did you say?"

"Nope, you say something first."

Grinning, Fili spun Harry around again, moving his hand to the small of her back and dipping the girl only ever so slightly. Harry's face was alight with joy, eyes perhaps the brightest he'd ever seen.

" _You're the most beautiful creature I've ever seen_."

Harry stared back at him, a bemused little smile on her face.

"I said my feet hurt, you?"

"That you'd stepped on my toes."

A look of mock outrage sprang across her features and Fili laughed as she broke away from his hold, the female rapidly denying such a thing had happened.

All in all, it was a good night.

 

* * *

 

 

It wasn't until he woke up, smiling at nothing, that he realized something was wrong. The necklace, Harry's necklace that he'd wrapped around his wrist before going to bed so that he'd without a doubt be able to remember it, was gone.

He spent almost half an hour searching through his room, even going so far as to overturn his mattress looking for it. It was almost like...

Like he'd actually been able to give her it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which an argument happens, is then resolved and Harry shares a childhood fantasy

It took several weeks before Harry finally confined in him why she kept appearing in the dreams looking more and more stressed, more and more worn. It was actually the topic of their first fight, in which he'd demanded to know what was so important that she looked as if Dwalin had put her through the wringer.

Harry had shouted, because she didn't seem to be able to scream at him, that it was none of his business.

When he'd woken up after that fight, he hadn't wanted to go and face her in the dream world again, feeling guilty for pushing her. He'd overstepped his boundaries, tried to get more information that was probably private. Information that didn't concern him. And when he'd not gone back that night, he'd been of two minds afterwards. One part relieved.

But mostly terrified. Were the dreams stopping now? Surely not? They couldn't, not when he was actually starting to question if Harry was actually real. The fact that every time she'd shown up, she'd been wearing his necklace made him think she was. Had it carried over to her world? Or was it just in this dream world now?

He was desperate for answers, but they weren't on talking terms at the moment. It was only after three days that he finally built up the courage to face her, to go back and stop acting like a coward. That was only because even Uncle Thorin seemed to have noticed he was out of sorts. And Uncle Thorin had the emotional capacity of a rock.

He wasn't prepared for Harry to all but throw herself at him, for arms that had once been skinny but were slowly beginning to fill out from sword training, to wrap around his shoulders as a head buried itself into the crook of his neck.

An apology was flowing from her mouth but Fili barely heard any of it, instead coiling his own arms around her waist and holding the small witch close, nose pressed into her dark hair. His own apology left his lips with little thought, more than happy to accept the fact they'd both been wrong, him pushing and her snapping, and just enjoy the fact they didn't suddenly hate each other, that they were still friends.

It was only after Harry had calmed that he got the full story, that the only ones hunting down the key to destroying her would-be-murderer was Harry herself, along with her two closest friends. Fili felt sick with the idea, but had been unable to do anything other than take out the basic hunting knife he'd bought as a youngster, when he'd sold his first few sets of jewellery and made a profit, and press it into her hand.

When Harry had left, Fili had woken up once again to find what he'd given away missing, and a part of him felt relieved, got through the day easier knowing that Harry had another weapon to hand aside from her wand.

 

When they'd seen each other the next night, Harry had appeared with a breathless smile, exclaiming how she'd woken up clutching at the old hunting knife. And that her necklace was there in the real world as well. She seemed just as stunned, just as ecstatic to come to the solid conclusion that he was real, a brilliant smile on her face. She'd held up two small rings, too thin to ever sit on his fingers. They were beautiful little things though, with real diamonds set in white gold.

"Can you look after them? They were my parents wedding rings; I got them out of the family vault before I went into hiding, but I don't want to lose them while I'm hunting these Horcruxes..." Harry had trailed off, looking off to a side with her cheeks pinking slightly. There were bags under her eyes, and she seemed more worn than usual.

Taking hold of the girl's extended arm, Fili slowly sat her down on the warm earth -they were back in the forest they'd first met in, summer apparently in full swing here- closing his own hand around her elfin fingers.

"You trust me to look after these?"

When she nodded, Fili felt floored. She trusted him to look after what was clearly treasured family heirloom. The rings of her dead parents. She'd told him all about the people expecting her to save them all, about the crushing pressure and how the public saw her as a saviour one day, a danger the next. She'd spoken of her closest friends, Ron who'd almost always been looking out for her, and Hermione, who'd stuck by her through thick and thin. They were like Harry's very own Kili, but in two different people.

"I'm a prince."

Harry blinked, tilting her head to a side and turning questioning green eyes on him. She was sat almost beside him and Fili was dimly aware that he was still holding her hand. Letting go of the appendage and accepting the two rings, which he'd later thread onto his own leather cord of a necklace, Fili placed one hand behind him and lent back on it, staring up at the starry night's sky.

"For all of these nights, you have been very open with me, Lady Harry," Fili glanced at the girl from the corner of his eyes, watching as her lips twitched at the corners as he spoke, "and I feel I should return the gesture. My Uncle and Mother were born into royalty, but when my great grandfather sat on the throne, we were attacked. The last dragon, Smaug, claimed Erebor for his own, and we lost the once great kingdom and found ourselves homeless. This was a time long before I was born, but Uncle Thorin was Crown Prince when it happened. He made our people a new home..." Fili trailed off, running a hand through his hair and letting out a low breath.

"You don't need to say anymore," Harry mused, laying her head against his shoulder. Several of her wild, flyaway black hairs tickled at the side of his neck and Fili couldn't stop the fond smile that blossomed across his lips. Something inside him jumped  bit, but no reason as to why those sensations appeared came to mind.

"When I was little, I thought that I was the family maid and someday a prince on a white horse would take me away, to marry me."

Out of nowhere, Harry shot to her feet, a merry wild grin lifting her cheeks up and birthing laugh lines around her eyes.

"But if what you've told me about dwarf height is true, I doubt you can get on a pony, let alone a horse!"

"Oi!"

Leaping to his feet as Harry took off running towards the dawn, cackling as she went and Fili quickly found himself giving chase. While she was a tiny, thin little creature, there was no denying that Harry was a nimble little thing, dashing between the trees with her light, airy laugh echoing around the forest.

He had a feeling the only reason he caught her at all was because she wanted him to, but that didn't stop Fili from snatching her up by the waist and hoisting her up over his shoulder as his new captive let out a shriek of surprise.

She was so light.

Even as he spun the two of them around, a laugh bubbling up from his own throat, he could still marvel over that fact. She looked it, but she'd still been expecting her to be the same weight as a dwarf really. She was the height of a dwarven woman after all. Even if Harry had angrily grumbled that she was pushing five foot three in her own world and it made no sense that she was smaller than him when Fili proclaimed he stood at a good four foot nine.

"I might not be able to ride a horse, but I can still sweep you off your feet." Fili's words were snatched from his mouth when he slipped on something or another, sending the both of them tumbling to the floor.

Harry landed with a muffled thump beside him, bright green eyes all but glowing beside him and with a smile that was trying to steal his breath from between his lips. She really was the most dazzling creature he'd ever seen.

"No more fighting?"

Harry stared back at him, smile never once faltering, before she nodded.

"Of course your highness." The teasing was thick in her voice and Fili knew his little confession had changed nothing.

"That is most pleasing to hear Lady Harry."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Fili wishes for Ron to become a Dwarf, so he may rain righteous justice down upon him, and Harry has a dream for the future.

"If he were dwarven I'd have his beard for this!"

Fili was furious! No, he was beyond furious, it felt more like dragon fire was rattling about in his chest, but he was not a dragon and he just couldn't get rid of it. The anger bubbled and boiled beneath his skin, heating it in a way he'd never felt before.

Was this the righteous fury that Uncle felt whenever he thought of the Desolation of Smaug? The fall of Erebor? If so, Fili could completely understand why the man would seemingly go to the ends of middle-earth to reclaim his birthplace.

If he could, Fili would have stormed right into Harry's world and skinned that spineless pig that dared to call himself her friend.

The dark haired witch in question was sat on one of the classroom desks, watching him pass back and forth with tired green eyes. Dark bags hung beneath them and Fili just knew the quest was getting to her, this seemingly impossible task that didn't appear to have an end.

Oh how he wished so desperately he could help, that he could fight alongside his friend. But he'd allowed himself not to get too frustrated over it, for she had two dependable friends with her.

But no longer! Because one had run, like a coward. Fili would flayed the male if he ever met him. With the bluntest knife he could find. He'd have to buy a blunt knife especially for it, since he'd never let his own blades get into such a condition, but it'd be money well spent.

"I clearly don't need him."

"That is not the point! It's his duty to see that you're safe!"

"Just because I'm female doesn't mean I'm weak!"

"It's his duty as your friend!"

Fili couldn't remember the last time he'd shouted, all but roared at someone like this. He'd hit this volume once before, back when Uncle Thorin had taken both Kili and himself hunting, and he'd shouted at Kili for startling his prey. But that was many years ago. He'd never been this angry on someone else's behalf before. Not enough to pull off such a good impression of an angry Uncle.

Harry stared back at him, wide eyed and stunned at his angry boom before she burst into tears, effectively taking Fili aback. Nononononono!

She was not suppose to start crying! She was suppose to be filled with righteous anger like he was and then they'd plan her friend's public shaming. Even if they never got the carry it out, it'd still make them feel better. But he couldn't do that when she was crying like that.

Misery filled up his insides and Fili gave a low sigh at the sight of his dear friend crying so hard that her eyes were rimmed red, one hand pawing at the swelling flesh. The desk was only thin enough for Harry to seat herself upon it, so Fili had no other option than to gather the girl up into his arms and seat himself on the floor, Harry in his lap. Her face was pressed into his shoulder, her whimpers and hiccups muffled by the fur coat that covered his torso.

Fili just sat, arms wrapped around a crying girl and wondering how he'd come to be here, when near six months ago he'd just been lying down to go to sleep. Instead he'd woken up in a dream world with a pretty girl and endless questions. The endless questions had not gone away, if anything, they'd only grown.

But Harry had not gone away either, so he wouldn't change anything for the world.

Running his fingers through Harry's hair, Fili pressed his own nose into the thick head of dark curls, inhaling the familiar scent that was Harry. She didn't smell of any kind of fruit, nor of stone like his mother did. He couldn't quite describe Harry's smell, only that it brought forth the feeling of warmth, with an undertone of honey hidden somewhere in there. Not enough to actually smell like honey, but enough for him to think of it.

 .

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, just running one idle hand through Harry's hair. His legs were starting to go a bit numb, and Fili honestly wished he'd had the forethought to seat himself in a somewhat more comfortable position. But comforting Harry had taken precedence.

Thankfully, Mahal seemed to answer his prays, because Harry shifted on his lap until she was sat beside him, only her legs were still thrown over his and her head was still resting on his shoulder and her arms were still wrapped around his middle.

"Thanks Fili, for being offending on my behalf. It's stupid, but you're the only one I could actually talk to about this right now. Hermione's still dealing with the fact the boy she's crushing on actually left us to our fate. It's stupid, and I know Hermione's trying her best, but she just doesn't understand the pressure of everyone looking to you for the answers. And you kinda do. It's typical that it literally took a dream man to help me out."

"I'm a dwarf, not a man," Fili grumbled, feeling somewhat offended, around about the same time he noticed one of his arms was still holding onto Harry's waist, hand resting on her hip. Six months ago he'd have felt very uncomfortable with such contact, but ever since that night Harry had shown up in such a beautiful dress and they'd danced so close, he'd relaxed into the contact.

Hell, he might even have become, affectionate, almost. And while part of him still cringed away at the idea, another part felt like grinning. Harry was a brilliant friend and he loved the fact he could talk to her about anything and she wouldn't judge. Just like she could talk to him.

"Aren't I suppose to be your knight in shining armour?"

"More like my dwarf in fur coat and worn boots."

Looking down at the boots in question, Fili plopped his chin atop Harry's head and gave a small snort, rolling his eyes skyward, regardless of the fact his companion would not be able to see such an action.

"I was informed that to insult one's wear was offensive, Lady Harry."

"Well Master Fili, we are dear friends, and if we cannot be truthful with one another, than who will be?"

"Well that is indeed good news, for you need to shower my Lady."

With a sound of mock outrage, Harry's head shot up fast enough to clip him on the chin and Fili scowled, barely able to keep up with the fact the female had pushed him to the floor, knuckles digging into the tender skin of his scalp.

As soon as the sharp, sudden pain in his jaw was gone though, Fili flipped their positions with an expertise that came only with being an elder sibling. Harry stared back up at him with her cheeks flushed and stained with tears, eyes bright and surrounded with puffy red skin. But there was a smile playing on her lips now, a teasing little thing that let Fili know she'd forgotten all about her traitorous friend.

"Where do you think you'll be in five years Fili?"

"Huh?" Looking down at the dark haired girl, Fili frowned in confusion at the question? In five years? He had no idea. Either still where he was, or on a quest with Uncle Thorin to regain Erebor. He couldn't see his life going in any other direction really.

And he told Harry this.

The little witch nodded in thought, running one free hand across her cheeks and scowling at the sticky tracks her tears had left.

"In five years, I want to be married to a nice guy, one who doesn't care about the titles or the fame or the money. And I want to start a family. Hermione said I was being silly when I told her a while back, that I should be aiming for a job, not a family. But I feel like being me is a full time job. I've always wanted a family, it's not a stupid goal, right?"

Staring, Fili could only think of Uncle Thorin, who was all but drowning within the needs of his people. How his Uncle's face would light up at the sight of both Kili and himself, even when they'd been dwarflings, running about covered in mud and grass, fighting with twigs they'd found outside.

"No, I don't think it's a stupid goal."

And then Harry's words caught up to him.

Or rather, the thought of her getting married. He didn't disagree with it at all.

But that didn't explain the sinking feeling that warped his insides at the idea. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which blades prove both useful and enchanting, and Fili's balance needs a little work.

"I'm sorry I lost your knife Fili."

"If you'd lost it Harry, I'd be upset. The fact that it is currently buried deep in your enemy's shoulder means it has done its job, and that I need to go to the market tomorrow to find you another one."

Fili was not happy that the betrayer had come back, even if he had saved Harry from drowning. She probably wouldn't have been in the position to drown if her so called friend had not left her.

What Fili was happy about though, was that upon her capture and loss of wand, the blade he'd given her had proven one of his better ideas, for it'd been recently become wedged deep into flesh of the woman that'd killed Harry's godfather. While Harry was making her escape that was. It hadn't been a killing blow, sadly, but Fili was proud all the same.

 .

At this moment in time, they were both sat on what Harry had called a swing each. Fili could see the similarities between the ironwork and chains, compared to the little rope swing both he and his brother had made one summer long past. For a moment, he wonder if their creation was still out there in the forest around the Blue Mountains, and then snorted.

Probably not.

The swings in Harry's world were very, very different; made of iron and chains and what she called 'plastic' for the seat. It wasn't comfortable, but it was a softer seat than wood would have been.

When Fili had stumbled into the dream world this time, it had not been to the familiar sight of Hogwarts, but to another strange place. The architecture was very odd, leaving every building open for attack. When he'd commented on it though, Harry had just snorted, rolling her eyes with an exasperated grin on her face. She'd explained they didn't really get attacked anymore, they were a much more peaceful society now. Or rather, the world with no magic was.

This was the town Harry had grown up in, it represented a lack of magic to her, it was an escape. After what Harry had just told him of, what had happened to her in the waking world, Fili could understand the need to flee. Having to hear a friend being tortured, while he could do nothing, would have killed Fili. Harry happily claimed the other girl, Hermione, as a sister.

He couldn't begin to say what he'd have done had anyone dared to start torturing Kili. There were no words for what he'd do to the one who dared attempt such a thing. Sticking a blade in someone's shoulder would be just the start.

 

"Have you still got the sword you needed?" Fili asked, sat still with both elbows resting upon his knees, one hand cradling his head. Harry was in a similar position, the only difference being that her head was currently not supported by her hands, which hung free between her legs from where her elbows rested upon her thighs.

She was in strange clothes, even stranger than what Fili had seen her in before. If he were to discount that dress that was. Unlike every other time he'd met her, when she was wearing the uniform of her school, now she was dressed in what she called 'muggle attire'. The pants, that he wasn't quite sure he could call pants what with the way they were so tight, clung to every curve of her lower body, advertising her shapely legs. The top was better, being about two sizes too large and hanging off of her frame. Hell, it'd have been perfect if the collar wasn't big enough that it continued to slip down her shoulder, exposing a milky white collarbone, the strap of some form of under top, and the delicate chain of impure silver that hung around her neck.

His gift.

She'd not taken it off once from what he'd been able to notice, something that always brought a smile to Fili's face.

"I do."

"Can you call it up here?"

As soon as he asked, a blade of gleaming silver appeared within Harry's thin fingers, the ruby upon the hilt glinting brightly despite the cloudy day that made up their world tonight.

Fili's breath caught in his throat.

It was a beautiful blade, the craftsmanship- He stopped, before he could begin to compare the blade against that of a dwarfish one. They had magic in this world, it was understandable if it would appear better at first sight so he shouldn't-

"Is that blade made of silver?!" Fili couldn't help himself.

He snatched up the sword when Harry offered it to him, lifting the blade to his face for a better view. It wasn't just silver, but pure silver. A blade made of pure silver. Fili was no blacksmith, but he knew that this blade was ridiculous.

Uncle Thorin would no doubt be frothing at the mouth if he learnt that Fili had been able to stand so close to such a blade, to inspect it, to hold it. He'd been right to notice that the big gem in the hilt was in fact a ruby, but there were more, small copies of the red gem embedded at different points in the handle. And in scripted along the blade was a name.

Harry had told him of Godric Gryffindor being the head of the house of the brave. Fili could quite easily conclude the man had an excellent taste in weapons. Taking an experimental stance, Fili adjusted his grip on the blade, running through a handful of the basic movements, slashing and slicing, twisting on his heels as he battled the invisible enemies that only he could see.

He only realized he'd gotten lost in his movements when he actually came to a stop and noticed that Harry was staring at him with the most peculiar expression on her face.

While she was still hunched over on the swing, her head was up, her brilliant green eyes completely focused upon him. Her lips, chapped and still housing teeth-marks from the last time she'd been chewing at the delicate skin, were parted slightly. A few flyaway strands of long black hair, that'd been pulled up into a high-ponytail at some point, were now free, gently brushing against her pale cheek. She looked mesmerized, as if something had completely taken her aback.

Like Kili when he'd gotten his new bow, or Glóin when he looked at his wife.

Fili wasn't sure if Harry was in awe of his obvious skill with a blade, or if it was something else. But what else could it be? Was there any other thing it could be other than awe?

"Will I be that good someday?"

Harry's blunt question drew Fili from his thoughts, and for that, he was thankful. He'd rather not continue bumbling along that line of thought though. He didn't know anything about females, other than what sparse knowledge he'd gained from his mother. And Harry wasn't a dwarf, so none of that would ever apply anyway.

"Well, Lady Harry, with the magnificent Prince Fili teaching you, I suppose you may one day, acquire a tenth of the skill I house."

"Oh lay off," Harry scoffed, mischief sparkling in her eyes and mirth dancing across her cheeks.

 

.

 

Somehow, during their spontaneous game of tag, the two of them ended up stood on one swing, facing each other. The ruby sword, Gryffindor's sword, was embedded in the soft earth somewhere to the left of them, long forgotten during Fili's chance of the little menace before him.

Both hands curled around the chain of the swing, Fili blink in surprise when he felt a drop of rain land upon his nose. Feet resting between his upon the seat of the swing, Harry threw her -less than substantial- weight backwards, small hands still clutching at the chains. The swing rocked slightly and Fili rolled his eyes. Nevertheless, he copied his companion, and soon enough, the both of them were swaying back and forth.

Before he'd met Harry, he'd never had dared be this close to another female, not on his own and not with her unwed. It wasn't becoming of a prince. But then, he and Harry were friends. After Kili, she was probably his closest friend.

"Don't get killed Harry."

The sky seemed to open up, rain pouring down upon them. The fat droplets fell around the curves of Harry's face, clinging to her dark eyelashes, but it never stopped the girl from staring back at him.

"I'll do my best. I promise."

That was when Fili made the mistake of trying to hold onto the swing with one hand. Both of them toppled onto the not quite rock because it was too soft ground, landing either side of the swing. Harry was laughing, and Fili let out a chuckle.

Meanwhile, his mind was still swirling, trying to figure out why he'd wanted to hug the beardless female for seemingly no reason whatsoever.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Glóin unknowing becomes Fili's agony aunt, Fili still doesn't get his answers but Harry does.

"Master Glóin? Can I talk to you? It'll only take a moment. Please?"

He had no idea why he was doing this. He really had no idea why he was doing this. Why was he doing this?

Fili scowled as the question once again repeated in his head. He'd asked himself this only a hundred times today, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. Not when the idea had wormed it's way into his head, buried deep in his mind and refusing to surface unless it was to annoy him. Just like the gopher that'd snuck into one of the pantries, the one Kili and he had been tasked with retrieving and either escorting from the blue mountains or killing it for supper. That'd been an awful few days. But they'd emerged triumphant, if a little clawed and bitten.

Regardless, he didn't want to dwell on past problems/victories.

He was here for his current problem. A problem that'd been growing in the back of his mind, a problem he would perhaps have never noticed, were it not for Kili.

Of course, his brilliant little brother might have brought it to his attention, but the brunet had no idea that he'd been the source of Fili's sudden epiphany. Nor what his brother's sudden realization was actually about.

In fact, Kili was pretty much clueless to everything other than the fact he'd given Fili a nudge in the right direction, a nudge he'd needed. All because Kili had been watching a pretty dwarven lass pass by and made a passing remark. Just that little passing remark, but it had Fili feeling like he'd just been trampled by every pony in the blue mountains. Mounted ponies.

' _Rerra is really pretty, doesn't she give you butterflies in your tummy Fili?_ '

No, Rerra did not give him butterflies in his stomach.

Harry gave him butterflies in his stomach.

Kili had found Rerra attractive in an abstract sense. She was a pretty face to look at. Kili had been physically attracted to Rerra, but that was all it was. A passing interest.

Fili was not physically attracted to Harry.

No, wait, that came out wrong. He wasn't just attracted to Harry physically. There, that was better.

He found Harry attractive, both physically and as a person.

Before he'd thought her beardless face was weird; even Kili had stubble. But now it just logged in his head as being exotic. Now he looked at her impish features, the green eyes, the pale skin, the merry-wild tilt to her lips, and he accepted it.

No, he didn't just accept it. He liked it.

He was, without doubt, physically attracted to Harry.

But the problem didn't end there. He'd been physically attracted to other females before. Sure he'd noticed it a lot easier than this, and sure Harry was clearly very different in appearance to all the others he'd found pretty, but this was ridiculous.

How could he not have noticed! These feelings were his own for Mahal's sake, no one else but him should have been able to notice. And he would only begrudgingly accept the fact he'd been distracted from realizing that Harry was very appealing. Distracted because he was trying to identify another thought.

That thought, of course, being that he found Harry's personality attractive too! It was one huge mess and he was stumbling over who to talk to.

So that was why he was currently here, stood awkwardly before Glóin, son of Gróin, and nervous as hell.

. 

The ginger haired dwarf, owner of what was considered to be one of the most magnificent beards in the Blue Mountains, looked up at him from where he was going over some numbers, a curious frown on his face. Fili had never really spoken to the other dwarf much, Thorin on the other hand, had, so the older dwarf knew of him.

"Master Fili, how may I help you?"

"You have a wife, right?"

Glóin's expression tightened somewhat, eyes narrowing in confusion, and then, consideration.

"Aye, I do. Most beautiful woman in this whole mountain."

Fili would argue that it was his own mother who was the most beautiful in their current settlement, but getting into a fight with Glóin to defend his mother's stature as the most beautiful dwarf of all would only lead to his questions remaining unanswered.

Sending a pray of apology to his mother for not instantly declaring Glóin a liar, Fili clenched his fists and forced himself to focus. And then it all came out in one big rush.

"I've got a friend and I only just realized I find her really pretty but she's not a dwarf and I like her as a person as well and I'm in big trouble because she's not a dwarf at all and I have no idea what to do!" Panting at the end of his little rant, Fili ran a stressed had through his hair, whimpering slightly and the fact he'd completely ignored the subtle questions he'd wrote down an hour ago and just blurted everything out at once.

Glóin too, looked a little stunned, as if he was still trying to process everything Fili had just said to him. In fact, he was holding one hand up, signalling that he needed a moment to mull over everything he'd just learned. Fili was quiet, but he really wanted to pull his own hair out, or wind it around his neck and pull tight so he could pass out and then pretend this never happened.

"Right lad. You say you like a girl."

Fili couldn't help the little growl of frustration that escaped his lips as he slumped into the chair across from Glóin, running a hand down his face.

"Yes."

"And she's not a dwarf? First of all, you're not putting yourself in any danger going to see this lass, right?"

"No, safe as can be." And really, he was. Curled up in bed and visiting the girl he found attractive in his dreams. Dear god, this got worse the more he thought on it.

"Right then. And why have you not gone to talk to your Uncle about this?"

He laughed. Fili couldn't help it, the sound was startled out of him.

"Are you kidding? Uncle Thorin will probably stare at me like I've declared I'm an elf or something and then send me off to work on my craft if I try to talk to him about emotions."

"Good point lad. Well, the only advice I can give you is to just let things run its course. She's either your One, or she isn't. Simple as that."

"But you don't understand! We can't be together even if she is! She's this amazing little impish creature and she doesn't care about my titles and she wants to be Just Harry and get married and have kids and I'm a prince so she'd never be Just Harry and it's not like she could ever come here anyway! I don't want to end up on my own!"

There. He'd said it.

If Harry did become his One, if his feelings evolved to that point, there would be no going back. And she was a world away, they could never be together like that and he'd spend every day for the rest of his life pining after her. He didn't want that.

Harry was brilliant and she shone so brightly and he could never ever have her.

He was scared to want to.

Glóin blinked, face a mask of seemingly emotionless confusion. The ginger shook his head, clapping one hand on Fili's shoulder, reaching across the table between them to do so.

"I've got no idea on whatever you've just said, but trust me lad. It'll either happen or it won't. Just don't doubt yourself. Now, I'll keep this quiet, so run along and go poke your brother with a sword or something."

"Thank you Master Glóin."

 

* * *

 

 

"Okay, now I know our world's are different. A dragon would never be cowered by goblins. And it would never let anyone ride around on its back!"

Staring at the most ridiculous creature he'd ever met, Fili couldn't even begin to guess what emotion was showing on his face. Not when he didn't even know what he was feeling, seeing as every emotion in him was jumping around like Kili after cookies.

"Yeah, well I answered you question as to why I was so happy. My turn now. What's with the braided moustache? I've been dying to ask ever since I saw it."

Now that he knew what to pay attention to, he could almost feel his stomach flip when Harry directed those emerald green eyes on him, sparkling with intrigue. She was still high off of her victory against her enemy, and Fili couldn't blame her. Sneaking into enemy territory, stealing an object prized above all others and then breaking the building whilst riding out on the back of a dragon? It was the stuff of legends, and Fili wouldn't begrudge her of her victory.

What he didn't like and yet appreciated at the same time was the way it made her eyes sparkle, cheeks lifted by the wide smile on her face and dusted with a light flush that saw her skin pinken slightly beneath her eyes and across her nose. Her teeth dragged across the flesh of her lower lip as she waited for him to speak and Fili could not draw his gaze away.

"It's practically a part of dwarfish culture, the better groomed a male's beard and moustache, the more attractive females find him." Harry nodded, serious despite the joy on her face.

"Makes sense. I know Sirius used to brag about his perfectly trimmed goatee and how the ladies love it." The disbelieving frown on Harry's face showed just how much stock she put into that idea, but she quickly went back to grinning.

"I'll admit, I thought it was a bit weird at first, but the more I look at you, the more I think you'd look weird without it." Ignoring the fact that Harry had looked at him long enough to become so accustomed to his face that were he to change anything she'd notice, Fili instead focused on thinking of something else to say.

And ended up blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

"It took me a while to get used to the fact you don't have a beard to be honest."

Harry gave a delighted gasp, eyes large as she stared back at him.

"That I _don't_ have a beard? You mean to tell me female dwarves do have beards?!" She seemed somewhat puzzled by the idea, but her mirth was leaking through.

"Yep."

"You never mentioned to this me before!"

Grinning, Fili only flopped back on the soft grass of Hogwarts field, looking up at the sky as he did so.

The only way he was ever going to stop his attraction, his feelings growing for Harry was if he cut himself away from her completely. Stopped the dreams again as he had done before. But he only needed one more glance at the dark haired girl to already know if he could do that or not.

And he wasn't sure if the answer made him pleased or pained.

If there was any god out there at all, if Mahal was truly watching over the dwarven race, then he'd find a way to bring Harry to him. He would live in hope.

Because he clearly couldn't give her up. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Fili realizes that he not only needs a new past-time, but that he's perhaps in too deep and Harry has a little cry.

 

"Come on Fili, you used to enjoy this!"

Grimacing, Fili followed after his little brother, trying not to be too obvious as he rolled his eyes. He had enjoyed this before, sneaking up to rest on one of the many ledges with Kili to spend a day people watching. To begin with, it'd been their best hiding spot from Uncle Thorin, and though he now knew that his Uncle had actually known where they were and had always indulging them when he walked under it seemingly confused as to the disappearance of his nephews, it was still a good spot to hide out for a few hours.

Kili's grinning mug was inches from his own face as they scaled the side of the pillar, coming to rest in the little cut out part of the mountain ledge they'd taken to calling their own.

The Blue Mountains was still rough, 'still not good enough' Uncle Thorin would grumble, but that was one of the plus sides for Fili and Kili. There was just so many hiding spots. Only right now, he wished there wasn't. Not that he didn't like spending time with Kili, but-

"What about Ovri?"

Following Kili's gaze to the Darrow women that was walking down the street below, Fili forced himself to at least attempt to think on the question. Ovri -whether that was her actual name or one Kili had made up for the hell of it, he wasn't sure- was a reasonably pretty female. She had no moustache, instead her facial hair ran along her jaw line and was painstakingly braided back, eventually joining the vast mass of her brown hair. The light green of her eyes was rather catching, an unusual colour for a dwarf.

But, and Fili wasn't too surprised that this thought hit him almost right away, they weren't emeralds. He was doing this all the time now, comparing all the dwarrowdams he laid eyes on to Harry.

Every last one.

Even when he'd last hugged his mother, the image of the impish little female wrapped up in his arms when she'd broken down into tears sprang in. And all he could think about was the fact he actually had to stretch his arms around his mother's broad shoulders, while Harry just fit perfectly. He could wrap his arms around her waist and rest his hands upon the sides of her hips, she was that thin.

A year ago, he'd never have found that attractive, not the lithe figure of Harry compared to the stockiness of a dwarrowdam. But now they all seemed a little too broad, their limbs a little too thick and fingers a little too fat. Faces a little too hairy, cheekbones a little too soft. Somehow, without him noticing, Harry had become his standard of beauty, and no one he saw was really living up to it. No one but Harry of course. And it was maddening.

"She's alright," Fili replied, trying to put something, anything, into his voice. But he failed. He couldn't pretend to be attracted to the female passing by, because he wasn't. Mahal damn it, he was in too deep.

He really liked Harry. How the hell had that happened? He'd seen her at her worst, when tears had ran down her face and she'd almost broken from the abandonment of a friend. He'd seen her bounce back, so excited and happy for her victory.

Harry was such a range of emotions, but he'd never have paid her too much attention had they not been so alike in that one way. People's expectations.

Harry had truly suffered, she'd fought all her life. He'd not done much of anything other than work on his craft, work on his swordsmanship and -most recently- work with Uncle Thorin in regards to royal duties. Harry had battled monsters, was currently battling evil.

He'd been right last night, her life really was the stuff of legends. No, not just her life, but Harry herself. She was a fighter, a survivor and Fili admired her for that. He also adored her for the constant glimmer of mischief that seemed to spark up every so often, that little teasing smile.

Hell, was there no end to what he liked about her?

"Alright? Alright? Ovri is one of the most beautiful dwarrowdams in the Blue Mountains!" Kili paused for a moment, before a look of constipation passed over his face, followed by panic as he looked around for the source of whatever was worrying him.

"You know, after mum." Oh yes, very true.

Kili probably still expected their mother to pop up out of nowhere with that sad, disappointed frown on her face upon hearing they thought someone else was more beautiful than her. This was of course, one of the reasons he'd never admitted that he found another female -i.e., Harry- incredibly attractive. Because she wasn't here to present to his mother to prove his reasoning.

"I've seen prettier," Fili grumbled, folding his arms before his eyes landed on a much more interesting sight. "Kili, look!"

His dark haired brother snapped to attention, eyes shooting across the dwarves to the ones that Fili was pointing at.

"It's Mister Dwalin! And Uncle!"

Indeed it was, the two stood close together and clearly whispering about something important. Dwalin looked sceptical, but Thorin, well, Fili had never seen his Uncle looking more determined.

"It looks important," Kili whispered, eyes still glued to the two dwarves.

Fili nodded, he had a pretty good feeling he knew what this was about. He could almost feel it in his bones.

Erebor. Their Uncle was talking about Erebor, nothing put a blaze in those blue eyes unlike the dwarven kingdom.

When the two ducked into the tavern, Kili turned to look at his brother with a determined grin.

"Eavesdropping?"

"Eavesdropping."

 

* * *

 

 

"Harry, I've got something-" Fili cut off.

Hogwarts was different. He'd only just appeared, but he could tell already. The castle was in disarray. It looked like a small scale war had been housed in the courtyard. There were huge chunks of stone missing, ashes of what had probably been several fires scattered around.

But it was the one body, stretched before Harry's kneeling form that caught Fili's attention. He'd never seen anything like it before. It was human, but then again, it was not. Taller than Harry by at least a foot, it had the palest skin he'd ever seen and seemed to be missing it's nose. The dead red eyes stared up at the sky, and Fili didn't need to ask Harry who it was. It was her enemy, the man who'd tried to murder her again and again.

And he was dead.

Slowly approaching Harry, Fili carefully fell to his knees next to her. She was silent, but tears were all but streaming down her face, which was the whitest he'd ever seen. They remained there for a few seconds, before Harry took a shuddering breath.

"I died." The words seemed to register in his brain, but for the life of him, Fili could not process what they meant.

"What?"

"I died, but then I got a chance to come back and finish the fight. So I did..." Harry trailed off, eyes that were once so full of life now a dead, dull green as they stared down at the body of her enemy.

"He was an orphan, like me. But he was so twisted, he killed people and didn't feel any remorse at all... So why do I still feel awful about it?"

Wrapping one arm around her shoulders and doing his best to ignore the way Harry flinched at the contact, Fili pulled the girl up against his side.

They sat there for a few moments, Harry silently shaking and Fili trying to think of something to say. And when he did, it wasn't with his own words.

"If you allow a beast that murders to run free when you could have dealt the final blow, then every murder it performs after can be held over your head. Uncle told me that once. We were on a hunting trip and I killed an Orc scout. And I broke down too. I'd be worried if you didn't care to be honest."

Harry had stopped shaking against him, but the hand that'd crept up and taken a hold of his coat was clutching tighter than he'd have thought the small female was capable of.

"Now sit up a second please, I've got something to give you."

 

.

 

Sat with Harry between his legs, Fili ran his fingers through her hair once more before he felt somewhat satisfied. Now, running down the right-hand side of her head was a thin dwarven braid. A special dwarven braid.

Undoing one of his own beads, he allowed the clasp to close around the collection of dark hair, which would see the braid remain in place.

"What is it?" Harry's voice was raw from all the suppressed sobs, but when she summoned up a mirror to take a look at her hair, Fili was pleased to see some of the light back in her eyes when he looked over her shoulder.

"There's not a perfect translation for it, but you can consider it a hero's braid. The braid and it's placement shows that you've been recognised as completing a great deed in a selfless manner, one that you should never have been tasked with, but you managed it anyway. It's a very rare braid, but I think you deserve it. And the bead shows that it was the Line of Durin that recognised this exploit, specifically the pattern says that it was me that gave you this braid."

Harry's thin fingers had come up to cover the bead, thumb running across the carvings within the silver. The mirror was on the ground now and the girl was just staring forwards, an unreadable expression on her face.

But she leaned back into the hug he offered her, tilted her head so that their cheeks rested beside one another and just basked in the comfort he offered her. The information about Uncle's possible quest could wait.

Right now, Harry needed his support, so support he shall.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Thorin feels he has a victory, FIli experiences a new freedom and then creates a new dwarven tradition.

"We know about the quest Uncle." 

The quill shot across the parchment with a satisfyingly loud screech. 

Intense blue eyes, burning blue eyes, slowly rose from the parchment to rest upon the both of them and Fili had to forcibly push down the sudden urge to flee. 

Uncle Thorin was clearly not happy with them knowing, probably because he had an inkling as to what such information would lead to. Which could be easily summed up in several steps, And would ultimately result in the two nephews joining an uncle on a quest. 

Oh, add the fact their mother would skin the both of them for daring to go on such an adventure, and then flail Thorin for allowing them to join. 

Regardless, the result would be the same, which was probably why Thorin was trying to scare them off right now, in hopes that if he could avoid the upcoming discussion then he wouldn't someday be the latest hunting trophy Dis hung over the fireplace. 

The two of them knew this however, which was why they stood their ground, even if Kili had taken a slight step back so that should Thorin snap and go for the kill, Fili would be the one within an arm's length. 

"Uncle Thorin, we really, really wanna help!" Kili, with his big brown eyes was actually pouting at their uncle. The sad thing was, that it was probably going to work. Always had. There was just something about Kili's sulky, 'my mining tunnel just collapsed, my sword broke and dog died, feel sorry for me' face that twisted everyone in the direction the youngest Son of Dis wanted. 

It was only with years of experience that Fili could see the cracks in his Uncle's angry face. He was going to cave, all three of them knew it, but he insisted on keeping up the pretence that he actually had some form of control when it came to this situation. 

"Basically Uncle Thorin, you can either let us travel with your company and know that we're safe and where you can see us, or you can deny us that privilege. All the latter option would see is both Kili and myself following the company from a distance. Two dwarves, barely of age, out in the wilderness on our own-" 

"Fine!" The bang of Thorin's palms meeting the desk rocked the inkwell, and the older dwarf only just managed to stop the pot from tipping over completely. 

"But you will be the one explaining it to your Mother!" 

Their uncle looked smug, and in all honesty, he had a right to do so. Explaining such a thing to Lady Dis would be a sure fire way to get the both of them locked in their rooms on the day of departure, with their mother sat at the door, battle-axe in hand. 

Which was why they'd come up with the most brilliant, most excellent plan ever. 

"We'll leave her a letter." 

And that was that.

* * *

 

Four days had passed since Fili had been able to talk -threaten- his way into Thorin's Company. It'd been two weeks since what Fili now knew to be 'The Battle of Hogwarts', in which Voldemort had fallen dead at Harry's hand. 

However, this was the first day that Harry had been waiting for him. 

Every other day, she'd been there before him, but never seemed to be paying any attention. Instead, she just stared off to the side, frowning almost all the time. This time though, she was perched quite neatly on a broomstick, a wide grin on her face as she settled back on the thin branch in question. It was such a stark contrast to how he'd seen her the past fortnight that all Fili could do was stare for a moment. 

And after he was done staring at Harry's beaming face, his eyes instantly went to the fact she was on a thin piece of wood and floating off of the ground. 

She'd told him about the whole flying broom thing before of course, but he'd never actually seen it. He'd never had any reason to ask, and Harry had not had any reason to think one into existence. Until now that was. 

Answering his silent question, Harry sat up straight on the broom, patting the wood behind her in a clear invitation. 

"It was a gift from my god-father. I thought I'd lost it at the start of the year, but recently one of the muggle-borns returned it, saying she'd found it but hadn't had any way of getting it to me until now." Of course. 

Harry loved her dead god-father dearly, no wonder she was so pleased to see one of the gifts he'd given her returned. However- 

"Are you sure it's safe?" Harry snorted, nudging the floating stick closer to him and her green eyes the brightest he'd seen them in a long time. 

"You're not scared, are you?"

 .

That was how Fili, Son of Dis, uncrowned Prince of Erebor and heir to Thorin Oakenshield, found himself sat on the back of a stick of 'comfier than it looks' wood, arms encircling Harry's waist in order to hold onto the handle of the broom and get a feel for how to direct the thing. 

Harry had kept them close to the ground and gone over basic manoeuvring. And now that he knew he probably wouldn't be falling to his death -Harry was apparently quite knowledgeable when it came to flying- he was rather looking forwards to controlling the damn thing for a few moments. 

They stopped for second, in which Harry hopped off the broom and allowed Fili to shimmy forwards slightly, before she climbed back on behind him. 

Fili stiffened when he felt her arms wrap around his torso, the softness pressing up against his back could be nothing but her breasts, and he felt his mouth dry. 

"You okay?" Harry asked and he could feel her jaw moving, her face resting against his back and turned slightly to a side. At first he'd almost thought she was nuzzling him, but the movement stopped when she'd gotten comfortable. 

"Yeah; no laughing at me." He kicked off gently and then there was wind in his hair and a sense of freedom he'd not ever felt before. Never would he have thought he'd get a chance to fly, that kind of thing just didn't happen in Middle Earth. Only if you were on exceedingly good terms with the Great Eagles. Something he'd never have expected. But, here he was, flying through the sky at a steady pace. 

Yet, all he could think about was the female sat behind him. 

 .

"Uncle's organising a Quest to reclaim Erebor soon." 

They were back on the ground now, laid out in the grass and staring up at the sky. Harry was beside him, as she usually was when they ended up falling into this position. The strange, round contraption she wore over her face -glasses she called them- were now in her hand as she too looked up at the sky. The sun was setting off to the west, leaving a brilliant mix of red, orange and yellows to spread out across the sky. 

"He said it'd be about a year until we leave, when winter breaks for spring." 

Harry had sat up now, turning to look at him with a frown on her face. And then, she flopped down onto her stomach, head resting in her hands and elbows jammed into the earth to hold her skull up. 

"I'd be a hypocrite if I asked you not to go. So instead, I'll say stay safe. You can't imagine how much of a help having you on this quest was. From the sword lessons and the whole knife thing, and then just having somewhere to escape to. Someone to talk to." 

Sitting up and crossing his legs, Fili watched Harry watch him, even if she was squinting to keep him in focus. There were many dwarves, older ones, with bad vision, but they'd not come up with something like Harry's glasses yet as a way to fix it. He had no idea how they worked, and when he'd asked the girl, Harry had just shrugged and muttered she had no idea. 

"You know, in dwarven tradition, it's considered lucky to get a kiss before going off on a quest." He didn't know why he said it. He regretted it the second he said it. 

Harry's eyes had popped open in surprise, her parted lips forming a cute little 'o' of surprise. 

"But, you know, it's a dwarven tradition, you don't have to follow it." 

"Well where was my kiss when I started my quest earlier?" 

If he'd snapped his head up a second slower, then Fili had no doubt he'd have ended up head-butting Harry. Instead, it just meant she didn't have to move as much when she graced his cheek with a light kiss. 

"I think I'm waking up." 

"You know, my quest doesn't start for nearly a full year, the good luck might wear off by then," Fili grinned as he spoke, watching as Harry rolled her eyes, and amused smile stretching out her lips. 

"Yeah, but I'm magic, so who knows?" 

And then she was gone, rudely awakened by someone on her end. 

Dropping back until he was laid eagle spread across the think grass, Fili stared up at the sky that'd suddenly gone from sunset to dawn and grinned to himself. He was in way too deep. Erebor mines deep. 

But maybe it wasn't completely hopeless after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there's going to be a little interlude one-shot for this next before I move on to part two; it's about 3/4's done right now, I'm working on it, so please keep an eye out?
> 
> Yep, end of part one. I'm excited to start the next leg of this series/story/whatever you wish to call it.


End file.
